Observation Geometry
Image PSP_003234_2210 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science
Experiment (HiRISE)
camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on
05-Apr-2007. The complete image
is centered at 40.7 degrees latitude, 350.5 degrees East longitude.
The range to the target site was 299.4 km (187.1 miles). At this distance the image scale is
29.9 cm/pixel (with 1 x
1 binning) so objects ~90 cm across
are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 cm/pixel and north is up. The image was
taken at a local Mars time of 03:28 PM and the scene is illuminated
from the west with a solar incidence angle of 73 degrees, thus the sun
was about 17 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 213.4
degrees, the season on Mars is Northern Autumn.

For information about NASA and agency programs
on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov.
NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology
in Pasadena, Calif., manages the
Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for
the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by
Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the
University of Arizona.

Face on old equator: Today, the Face is located at 41° north latitude,
and is tilted from upright (north-oriented) by an angle of 21°.
Prior to the last major pole shift on Mars [P.H. Schultz,
“Polar wandering on Mars', Sci.Amer. 253 (Dec.), pp. 94-102 (1985)],
the Face was located on the Martian equator and oriented upright.

'T'&'': Natural channels rarely end in a
perpendicular 'T'-shape for obvious reasons.
In the image on the right, the
crater appears to have extremely steep walls
and a flat floor. The elongated
shape is incompatible with crater formation
mechanisms because of their
explosive, rather than excavating, nature.
No “source' or “sink' is available
for excavation to have occurred by
flowing liquid. Source for “T': SP243004.jpg.

'Crenulations': Rows of parallel white stripes are seen in
numerous locations on Mars.
Often, these lie along the borders of mesas
containing shapes themselves
suggestive of artificiality. The example on the
right shows a hint of the
tube-like structures seen underneath these stripes
wherever the ground is broken.
Sources: M0304566d.gif & .

Crenulations are underground tubes: Ground fissures seem
to expose a network
of glassy or translucent underground tubes. The bright spot
might be a specular reflection of the Sun,
consistent with a glassy or plastic
skin. The magnified view shows that the white lines
are bands that appear to
wrap completely around the tubes. Source: M0400291.gif.

'Crowned face': While not near the Cydonia area, this face
portrayal
is again striking for the richness of its detail, far better than the
typical face arising in clouds or geological formations on Earth.
The latter
tend to be distorted and grotesque when they are more
than simply
impressionistic. Source:M0203051a.gif

Cydonia Symbols

They believe that the ancient art and sculpture of Mesoamerica is
reflected in geoglyphs of Mars, specifically as depicted in the 2001
'Face on Mars.' Haas suggested that the bifurcated Martian imagery was
like a hieroglyphic writing system, and is evident not only on the Face
but on other structures at Cydonia as well.

Because the symbolism is repeated over and over again, it's
statistically unlikely that the images are random, Haas continued,
adding that it's akin to seeing all the characters from The Simpsons
on the structures of Cydonia. Saunders suggested that the structures
were easier to make because of the lesser gravity on that planet, and
they could have more longevity because there isn't as much erosion
there.

Richard C. Hoagland of Enterprise
Mission joined the discussion in the third hour, proposing that a
kind of "reverse osmosis" could have taken place where early
high-tech humans came to Mars and then devolved after returning to
Earth. Other possibilities he suggested included an indigenous Martian
species and visitors from elsewhere colonizing Mars.

MARS FACE DISAPPEARS?

Humanoid face mysteriously disappears from
Mars

08/24/2004 16:05

The history of
Martian studies is filled with mysterious aspects

On July 25, 1976 the US
spacecraft Viking-1 photographed an astounding formation on the
surface of Mars. The 1.5 kilometer-long object bore resemblance to
woman's face. The photograph produced a sensation in the whole
world - almost all newspapers and magazines of the world published
the picture on their pages, the image of the Martian face was on
constant presence on television.

Astronomers said the image
of the face on the red planet was a wholly incidental trick of
nature. The face, however, was oriented on the Martian meridian,
but it was considered incidental too. Specialists from the
Boston-based Analytic Sciences created a 3-D image of the
above-mentioned structure and discovered the image of the
'humanoid face' on it indeed. Having intensified the contrast of
the shaded right side of the image, specialists found the second
'eye' situated about 100 meters beneath the 'nose.' To crown it
all, there was something reminiscent of 'teeth' too. According to
the results of the analysis, specialists concluded the anomalous
formation could not be of the terrestrial origin. Furthermore,
engineers Vincent DiPietro and Gregory Malenaar found another
image of the face in the archives of Martian photographs. The
picture was taken with different lighting 35 days after the first
original image was taken. The detailed computer analysis proved
the peculiarities of the first picture and revealed new details as
well. One could see an 'eyeball,' a 'pupil' and 'teeth' on the
sun-lit 'cheek.' The two engineers concluded that if the details
of the stone head were of the natural origin, the nature would
have to be a reasonable creature.

On June 25, 1995 the NASA
administration included the test photoshoot of the Martian face in
the program flight of Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. The mission
control received the long-awaited photos on April 5th, 1998. The
spacecraft took pictures of the face from the height of 440
kilometers (in 1976 the images were taken from the height of 1,870
kilometers). To everyone's great disappointment, the photos
depicted only uneven landscape - one could not see any facial
outlines on them at all.

One might think NASA
officials fabricated the shots - it could be the simplest
explanation for the whole matter. However, the history of Martian
studies is filled with mysterious aspects. One may recollect
Martian 'channels,' for instance. Scientists have been observing
Martian channels for many years. It was documented that hardly
visible channels split into two or turned to wide stripes.
Astronomer Giovanni Sciaparelli, the discoverer of channels on
Mars, mentioned the Erinnis channel in his reports. The channel
vanished from Martian maps for a long period of time, although it
appeared on them again in 1941. Scientists have not found an
explanation to periodic changes of color on certain areas of Mars,
sudden dust storms, a series of inexplicable accidents that
happened to Martian rovers on their way to the planet, and
mysterious flashes of light (about 400 flashes were observed in
1894 when Mars neared Earth). On December 8th 1951, Japanese
astronomer Tsuneo Saheki saw a bright spot near the Martian lake
of Titonus. The spot was glimmering for five minutes. Japanese
scientists observed two of such flashes in 1954, four of them were
registered in 1958. It is not ruled out that the Martian natural
disasters ruined the image of the face on the planet.

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - Radiation on Mars is so intense that it could
endanger astronauts sent to explore the Red Planet, and it's unlikely that
any extraterrestrial life would survive there, NASA scientists said.

High radiation levels measured by the space agency's unmanned Mars Odyssey
spacecraft suggest that any extraterrestrial life would have little chance
of surviving unless it were shielded beneath the planet's dusty, cold surface,
Cary Zeitlin of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute in Houston
said Thursday.

``It would have to be pretty robust against all kinds of environmental
horrors,'' said Zeitlin, one of the scientists working on the project.

The conclusions stemmed from new data released by scientists at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory from the first year of scientific results from
the $300 million mission.

Scientists also presented information on the minerals and elements that
make up the planet's surface, including measurements that show its northern
hemisphere is richer in water than its southern half. Near the planet's north
pole, frozen water makes up as much as 75 percent, by volume, of the top
3 feet or so of soil, said William Boynton, one of the mission's
scientists.

``We're talking ice with a little bit of dirt mixed in it and not the
other way around,'' Boynton said.

NASA talks vaguely of future manned missions to Mars, where astronauts
could use that ice for drinking water, fuel and oxygen to breathe. The new
radiation findings suggest such a mission would be risky.

Even so, possible accidents involving the spacecraft that would take
astronauts to and from Mars pose a far greater risk, said Robert Zubrin,
president of the pro-exploration Mars Society.

Mars is continuously bombarded by radiation from the galaxy at large,
as well as by periodic bursts from the sun. The radiation would expose astronauts
in orbit to an effective dose 2.5 times greater than that received by humans
in low Earth orbit aboard the international space station, Zeitlin said.

A three-year mission would expose astronauts to the radiation limit considered
safe by NASA over the career of an astronaut, he added.

The radiation environment on the surface of Mars is unknown but probably
poses a similar risk, even though the planet's tenuous atmosphere would provide
some shielding.

``It still remains to be seen what the hazards are on the surface,'' Odyssey
project scientist Jeffrey Plaut said.

The main worry for astronauts on Mars would be the periodic bursts of
charged particles that stream outward from the sun. On Earth, a global magnetic
field and a substantial atmosphere protect against that radiation.

Observations made last year show bombardments of solar radiation can last
more than a week. Presumably, astronauts on Mars would have to remain confined
in some sort of shelter during such blasts of radiation, Zeitlin said.

``They're manageable, as long as the spacecraft has these refuge areas,''
Zeitlin said.

Mars Odyssey's science mission is expected to last 1 1/2 more years but
probably will be extended. The spacecraft has been thrifty enough with its
fuel to enable it to stay in orbit 20 more years, Plaut said.

*** A Cydonia researcher says there are no weird thermal anomalies in
a nighttime infrared image of the Mars Face. NASA experts say recent data
shows the true geological nature of the Martian enigma ***

(The Electric Warrior) - Mars anomaly researchers who have been clamoring
for a nighttime infrared image of Cydonia got their wish last week just in
time for Halloween. An imaging science expert now says there are no thermal
anomalies proving an artificial origin for the Face or other well known features
at Cydonia.

In the new nighttime image the notorious Face on Mars is hard to distinguish
from the surrounding terrain unless you know where to look. The Face is circled
in the photo that accompanies this blog.

Why is it important what the Mars Face looks like at night? Mars anomaly
researchers say that a nighttime infrared image might provide clues about
whether or not the Face is artificial, proving the presence of extraterrestrial
intelligence beyond Earth.

But according to Mark Carlotto, whose New Frontiers in Science Web site
examines the Martian enigmas, there are no thermal anomalies in the new image
that would point to an artificial origin for the Mars Face or the D&M
Pyramid of Cydonia. Carlotto goes on to say that if artificial structures
had been inactive for a long time he wouldn't expect to see thermal anomalies
anyway.

"Highly eroded artificial structures that have been inactive for hundreds
or thousands of millennia are likely to be in a state of thermal equilibrium
with respect to the background. One would therefore not expect to see a thermal
anomaly," writes Carlotto.

That doesn't mean Carlotto has given up hope for finding evidence of ET
on Mars. His "Cydonia Controversy" Web page says that rather than seeking
out conspiracy theories and government cover-ups that can't possibly be supported
by the data in hand we should simply follow the data to where it leads.

Carlotto thinks there are subtle indications of symmetry, geometry, and
pattern in the area that are worth studying. He recently uncovered a rock
strewn area south of the Mars Face that looks curiously similar to archaeological
sites on Earth.

The SETI Institute's Dr. Jill Tarter has said that there might be evidence
of ET technology within our solar system. Carlotto and others say it's worthwhile
looking on Mars.

IN THE DARK

But according to Arizona State University's Philip Christensen, Cydonia
researchers don't like it when NASA releases new images that show the geological
nature of the Face. Christensen, who leads the Mars Odyssey thermal imaging
team (THEMIS) recently told the Discovery Channel that he gets nasty emails
from people accusing him of being part of a cover-up.

As reported by Discovery Channel: The only reason NASA still calls it
a face is that there are some people who religiously claim that the feature
is not natural and will cry "cover-up" if NASA lets the matter drop.

At night many of the Martian hills in this region become invisible to
the THEMIS camera because there is no heat signature to make them stand out.
The Face is much easier to see during the day in a photo shown side-by-side
with the new nighttime THEMIS data.

The ASU Web site explains, "This knob can be seen in the daytime image
because of the temperature differences between the sunlit and shadowed slopes."
The online ASU article concludes that recent NASA missions like Mars Global
Surveyor and Mars Odyssey have provided detailed views of the hill which
show that it is a normal geologic feature.

Mars Cydonia researchers awaited the new nighttime image to see whether
it revealed anything peculiar. Some won't be happy with either ASU's assessment
that the true nature of the Mars Face is geological or Carlotto's analysis
that fails to reveal any thermal signature weirdness.

Carlotto has said that building a case for artificiality on Mars that
even NASA can't dismiss takes time. Electric warriors are content to await
further analysis.

(New Frontiers in Science) - First night-time image acquired by
THEMIS aboard the Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows no evidence of thermal anomalies
of artificial origin in the Cydonia region containing the Face,
D&M Pyramid and other objects.

(Discovery Channel) - The face on Mars has beenspotted again,
this time in a nighttime infrared image that tells a bit more about its
mysterious geological origins... The face itself looks a lot less face-like
close-up, of course, and was first called a face because of low-resolution
Viking images some 30 years ago.

(NASA/ASU) - This pair of THEMIS infrared images shows the so-called "face
on Mars" landform viewed during both the day and night. The nighttime
THEMIS IR image was acquired on Oct. 24, 2002; the daytime image was
originally released on July 24, 2002... The 3-km long 'face' knob was first
imaged by the Viking spacecraft in the 1970's... Since that time the Mars
Orbiter Camera on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft and the THEMIS visible
and infrared cameras on Mars Odyssey have provided detailed views of this
hill that clearly show that it is a normal geologic feature.

(The Electric Warrior) - A Cydonia researcher says that a rock strewn
area south of the Mars face looks curiously similar to archaeological sites
on Earth. SETI's Jill Tarter didn't say exactly where we might find evidence
of extraterrestrial activity in our own solar system. Carlotto and the Society
for Planetary SETI Research say it's worthwhile looking on Mars.

This text is freely distributable for non-commercial purposes, provided
you cite The Electric Warrior. Web developers should link here...

Readers are strongly cautioned that The Electric Warrior asserts it is
OK to laugh and have a good time with some of this stuff. Lighten Up!

The Electric Warrior is not responsible for the content of Web links.
Content reproduced here is for informational purposes only. All copyrights
Acknowledged.

eWarrior@electricwarrior.com

Russian Space Official: Humans to Mars as Priority

By Leonard David - Senior Space Writer

20 October 2002

HOUSTON -- The Russians are itching to send a human crew to Mars and
are miffed that NASA remains undecided on such an undertaking.

A leading expert in human Mars missions, Leonid Gorshkov of RSC Energia
in Russia sketched out a reusable Interplanetary Expedition Complex for
dispatching a crew to Mars in 2022.

Here at the World Space Congress, Gorshkov challenged NASA to move up
a humans-to-Mars mission and make it a high priority.

Russian complaints

A human Mars mission "is a very serious thing," in Russia Gorshkov said,
underscoring decades of plans that contain technical solutions to achieve
such a goal. Russian space designers have blueprinted a Mars vehicle that
would have a lifetime of 15 years and after servicing could be used again.

Gorshkov said that "this is the most reliable concept at present."

"We believe it has to be an international project. However, we can see
that NASA considers an expedition to Mars as one of the lowest priorities.
So we end up being in an awkward situation," Gorshkov said.

Gorshkov said that they have a simplified, less expensive Mars mission
that would have a crew orbit the red planet. Through telerobotics, that
expedition would "send their eyes and hands down to Mars," he said.

"Its important for me to convince you that human flight to Mars
is a reality," Gorshkov said. "When the wheel was first invented it probably
wasnt extremely useful right away, but it became very useful later,"
he said

New Files From Enterprise
Mission

» THERMAL IMAGE HEATS MARS FACE CONTROVERSY martian enigmas

*** A new infrared image of the notorious Mars Face reveals nothing so
much as our fascination with ET ***

photo: Cydonia 2002 - Infrared, Daytime

NASA's high-tech infrared camera recently photographed the Mars Face,
along with other controversial landforms in the Cydonia region. As usual,
the new photo inspires speculation about the search for extraterrestrial
intelligence.

The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on board the Odyssey spacecraft
captured an excellent regional view of Cydonia. NASA's point of view is that
the Mars Face is just one of many normal geologic features, all eroded into
a remarkable array of different shapes:

"The Cydonia region is seen to be covered with dozens of interesting
knobs and mesas that are similar in many ways to the knob named the 'face',"
says the THEMIS image caption.

NASA's new Cydonia photo is different because unlike an ordinary camera,
THEMIS shows temperature effects. Hot spots are "white", cool spots are "black",
and since it was taken during daylight, the temperature effects are those
caused by ordinary sunlight. As a result, the image looks remarkably similar
to the historic Viking images that started the Mars Face controversy.

According to the Cydonian Imperative, an online blog dedicated to the
Martian enigmas, the infrared image tells us nothing new or unexpected. "While
the IR image is a welcome contribution to the study of the Cydonia region,
it provides no evidence confirming or refuting the Artificiality Hypothesis,"
writes Mac Tonnies

Tonnies thinks what we really need is an infrared image that shows us
heat signatures at night. "A night-time IR image is needed to help test the
notion that the Face and D&M Pyramid are (at least partially) hollow,
and thus almost certainly non-natural. Landforms, natural and otherwise,
radiate heat in distinct ways. "

Richard Hoagland, the foremost expert on the Mars Face, thinks there
is a great deal more to the release of the latest THEMIS image. Hoagland
tells us his sources hint that a night-time image has already been taken,
and NASA is hard-pressed to explain it.

As Hoagland has it, there is a conflict within our government over the
question of extraterrestrial artifacts on Mars. "Some inside NASA still
apparently have not gotten 'the word' that theres a 'new day dawning'
around this issue, and increasing 'disclosure' is supposed to be the policy
from now on."

REASON TO BELIEVE

Cydonia researchers have argued that if the search for extraterrestrial
radio signals is legitimate science, then why not the search for extraterrestrial
artifacts?

In a surprising reversal of policy, the SETI Institute's Dr. Jill Tarter
recently told Space.com that evidence of extraterrestrial activity might
be present in our own solar system.

"It's possible that there could be, in fact, within our solar system,
some evidence of ET technology," said Dr. Tarter, the woman upon whom Jodie
Foster's character in the movie "Contact" was largely based. "They may be
here."

Is the Face evidence of alien visitation, or the remnant of a lost
civilization on Mars? Either way, and in spite of the fact that it looks
less like a human face as our technology improves, the notorious hill in
Cydonia somehow prompts us to ask whether mankind is truly alone.

But if additional information from NASA's Odyssey shows up, don't expect
it to be conclusive. Not unless you've already made your mind up one way
or the other. In that case, you don't need any more information, beyond
confirming your own beliefs.

Empirical science doesn't work that way. Our biggest challenge as human
beings will be to see what is really there, and accept it for what it is,
not what we suppose it to be.

If science is beginning to warm up to the notion of the Search for
Extraterrestrial Visitation (SETV), then perhaps its time for Cydonia enthusiasts
to cast aside elaborate conspiratorial mythologies that demonize anyone who
disagrees with them.

Apriori conclusions on either side of the argument hinder legitimate
inquiry. "Electric Warriors", at least, still need a reason to believe.

(THEMIS Science Team) - In this "big picture" view the Cydonia region
is seen to be covered with dozens of interesting knobs and mesas that are
similar in many ways to the knob named the "face" - so many in fact that
it requires care to discover the "face" among this jumble of knobs and hills.
The 3-km long "face" knob was first imaged by the Viking spacecraft in the
1970's and was seen by some to resemble a face carved into the rocks of
Mars.

(Enterprise Mission) - According to our separate "Bush Administration"
source, the image we are supposed to be getting is a "nighttime Cydonia IR
image"  where the accumulated heat of the day is slowly radiating back
into space throughout the night. On this image, we've been told, certain
features will "stand out as almost unmistakably different."

RENO, NEVADA  NASAs Mars Odyssey is ready to start science duties
as it circles the Red Planet. The spacecraft completed a set of aerobraking
maneuvers January 11 following weeks of dipping in and out of Mars
thin atmosphere in order to tighten its orbit around the planet.

An upcoming and key event is deployment of Odysseys high-gain antenna.
That equipment is crucial in relaying to Earth quantities of data to be gleaned
by the spacecrafts science instruments. The antenna is to be released
and deployed with a motor-driven hinge.

Release of the high-gain antenna is to occur after a final adjustment
of Odysseys orbit takes place. That small adjustment is tagged an "orbit
freeze" maneuver. This tweaking of Odysseys orbit is being done to
avoid the remote chance it could smack into another orbiting spacecraft 
the Mars Global Surveyor.

Serve up surprises

Steve Saunders, project scientist for the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission, expects
the probe will serve up surprises in regards to its main agenda  spotting
the signature of water on the reddish globe.

"The spacecraft has been working extremely well. That is what the engineers
are saying. My assessment is that theyve been performing extremely
well in flying Mars Odyssey," Saunders told SPACE.com during the 40th American
Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA) Aerospace Sciences meeting
held here last week.

Saunders said the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) aboard Odyssey
"looks like its working great," and is ready to start operations. THEMIS
is designed to determine the distribution of minerals, particularly those
that can only form in the presence of water. Once the high-gain antenna is
deployed, all is in ready for THEMIS to start pumping to Earth volumes of
data, he said.

THEMIS was tested shortly after the Mars Odyssey was launched in April
2001. The instrument was also briefly used during aerobraking maneuvers.

Another instrument, the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS) is on tap to begin its
task of determining the presence of 20 chemical elements on the surface of
Mars. The GRS can scan for hydrogen in the shallow subsurface, thereby
ascertaining the amount and distribution of possible water ice on the
planet.

Early targets

During the first month or six weeks of science operation at Mars, Odyssey
is to start looking at high-priority targets, Saunders said.

Potential landing areas for NASAs 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers are
to be viewed.

"Weve got a number of other high-priority targets that are of great
interest to people in general," Saunders said. Those include the top of Olympus
Mons, Valles Marineris, and the so-called "Face on Mars"  a site that
some claim to be of artificial nature.

"Were going to try to cover all that in the first month or so, and
release the data immediately and just get it out there," Saunders told
SPACE.com.

"Theres always a sense, true or not, that were not getting it
[data] out fast enough. Its not always the fault of any particular
investigator or mission. It just has to do with planning and money," Saunders
said. "Were going to try and solve that by giving out what may be the
most interesting stuff in general as soon as we can," he said.

End of year results

By years end, Mars Odyssey is likely to have painted a good picture
regarding the distribution of near surface hydrogen on Mars using a suite
of sensors.

"I think we should have a pretty good picture of the high latitude regions
in terms of their chemical composition. We wont have sampled enough
around the equator, but we should have a pretty good picture what the polar
regions look like. Well have a whole bunch of nice images from
THEMIS and by then we should have done the analysis of some areas to
come up with some interesting deposits on Mars," Saunders said.

"We always get a lot of surprises, especially when we do a huge jump in
resolution as we do with THEMIS," Saunders said. "So I think well see
some things that we didnt expect."

Odysseys primary science mission is slated to continue through July
2004.

During and after its science mission, the Odyssey orbiter will also support
other missions in NASAs Mars Exploration program. It will provide the
communications relay for U.S. and international landers, including the next
mission in the space agencys Mars Program, the Mars Exploration Rovers
to be launched in 2003. Scientists and engineers will also use Odyssey data
to identify potential landing spots for future Mars missions.

NASA has responded to our March 16th letter on behalf of FACETS. In its
3-page letter, NASA denies that any images of Cydonia have been withheld
and astonishingly states that it has re-imaged the region pursuant to our
request.

The letter contains some startling statements as well as inviting FACETS
to submit a specific list of requests for targeting additional area of
Mars.

In response to your letter to NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin dated
March 16, 2001, from the Formal Action Committee for Extra-Terrestrial Studies
(FACETS), NASA has fully and openly distributed by means of public web-sites
all images obtained of the Cydonia face feature under question.
To date, more than 90,000 images of Mars have been acquired by the Mars Global
Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC), as well as hundreds of millions
of laser altimeter topographic measurements and infrared spectra. None of
the images acquired to date by the MGS/MOC system have been withheld and
indeed, several recently (April 8, 2001) acquired images, including stereoscopic
coverage of the Cydonia feature under question, have been released via multiple
public web sites.

In this case, NASA responded to the request by FACETS (presented in the
letter by Peter Gersten to Mr. Goldin on March 16, 2001) by initiating a
complex set of MGS spacecraft operations to ensure that the highest possible
resolution images of the Cydonia face feature were acquired.
These spacecraft operations require special care and only a few can be performed
each day. In addition to 1.5 m per pixel (about 5 foot resolution) resolution
images of the Cydonia feature, NASA released a stereo 'anaglyph' of the feature
that allows a viewer with colored ''3D glasses to view the feature
in 3D. This is the first release of a 3D image of any features on Mars acquired
in this resolution. Furthermore, NASA has assembled public web site access
of ALL MGS images acquired of the Cydonia Face feature since the start of
MGS scientific observations. Given the challenges of imaging any feature
on Mars (ie., NASA has yet to find the second Viking Lander
specifically), this has involved considerable effort.

The newly released Cydonia observations reveal an intriguing mesa-like
feature not unlike those found in the Southwestern USA, with geologic features
than can be attributed to processes in multiple places on Mars in which isolated
topographic features (remnants) have been observed. NASA encourages the
development of multiple working hypothesis models for the formation of such
features and in this case the new observations have been publicly released
to permit further debate about controversial and enigmatic landforms on Mars.
Dr. Michael Malin, the Principal Investigator of the MGS Mars Orbiter Camera,
has provided his experienced interpretation of the new images, but NASA welcomes
additional opinions. Indeed, NASA promotes innovative analysis of such spacecraft
data by competitive peer-review, as well as via open discussion in public
meetings and by all members of the interested-public.

In the letter to Mr. Goldin by the members of FACETS, there are statements
that are not consistent with published (and hence peer-reviewed) results
from scientific literature. NASA does not know of any statements by Sir Arthur
C. Clarke that suggest  pretty convincing proof of the existence
of large forms of like on Mars, nor are there any in the extant, peer-
reviewed literature. NASA favors exploring the Universe for evidence of
biological processes and aspects of the newly restructured Mars Exploration
Program support a variety of approaches for searching for evidence of biological
processes on Mars.

NASA has responded to the requests of the FACETS group in exactly the
fashion requested in the March 16 letter, by targeting the Cydonia feature
under question will (sic) the highest possible resolution, and most optimized
illumination, as well as in stereo, to make available observations to the
general public in a responsive manner. These data are released and available
for interpretation by the FACETS members. They were so recently acquired
from the MGS that there may have appeared to have been a delay in their release,
but this was not the case. When an image is acquired at Mars it must be relayed
to Earth via a specific process and then reconstructed on the ground before
it can be posted on a public web site. This was accomplished at the end of
last week (by April 19), and the data released on that date.

Thus on the basis of the requests made in the March 16 letter addressed
to Mr. Goldin by Peter Gersten, the following items have been met or exceeded
as follows:

(1) all images of the Cydonia area have been released on the internet
(via www.msss.com and other public NASA sites via JPL)

(2) stereoscopic, full resolution (1.5 m/pixel) MOC images were acquired
at optimized illumination conditions of the Cydonia features and have been
released via the internet

(3) NASA awaits a specific list of requests for targeting the
 five additional areas of Mars from a list submitted by FACETS,
but no such list has yet been received.

NASA welcomes a variety of opinions about the origin of the enigmatic
features on Mars as observed by the instruments aboard the Mars Global Surveyor.
NASA relies upon the peer- review process and competitive peer review to
fund analysis of the data it acquires and awaits newly published (or proposals
to undertake such) interpretations of the Cydonia face feature.
At present the Scientific advisory committees that formally advise NASA have
not interpreted the Cydonia feature as evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence.
NASA will continue to explore all possibilities for the origin of landscapes
on Mars using the open process it has traditionally utilized, as well as
by timely release of all images acquired by operational spacecraft, including
the MGS.

NASA thanks the members of FACETS for their continuing interest in the
Cydonia region and welcomes additional comments.

Sincerely,

Edward J. Weiler
Associate Administrator for Space Science

------------------------------------------------------------

RELATED RESOURCES

» EW Web Site Posts Mars Face Demand Letter FACETS, a space exploration
activist group which released a statement last April, made the full text
of the letter to Daniel Goldin available.

This image, M04-00291 (found by Hoagland) is certainly the most extraordinary.
Located in an ancient ocean bed which has rifted apart due to some sort of
cataclysmic stress are nothing less than a series of interlocking, reinforced
and still intact translucent, glass-like tubes!

Reinforced by regularly spaced, cylindrical arches, this clearly defined
translucent structure seems to be running along a hollowed out section of
the former ocean floor. The clear "glass" tube can be easily seen running
the length of the rift, and there is a distinct edge where the clear tube
wraps around the arches. The composition of the tube is given away even more
directly by a brilliant specular reflection. This reflection is not associated
with any kind of geologic feature (it seems to be simply hanging in space),
effectively destroying the argument that "wind polished rocks" are responsible
for the many brilliant features of the Martian surface.

Critics have in the past attempted to pass off similar arches as "sand dunes."
To be sure, there are some superficial resemblances between these "arches"
(and similar structures near the base of some pyramids at Cydonia) and real
sand dunes. But on any sort of close examination, the "sand dunes" argument
quickly falls apart.

This is an example real sand dunes on the surface of Mars. Note that they
are irregularly spaced, vary in length, have diffuse edges and are the same
color and texture as the surrounding terrain. They also are restricted mostly
to flat, wide plains, and are not paralell to each other, even when the
topography does not interfere with wind patterns.

By contrast, the arches are regularly spaced, nearly identical in length
and breadth, and wrap around the surrounding features (a highly reflective
glass tube!). They have completely different albedo properties than the
surrounding terrain (indicating they are made from different material), and
are restricted to the specific area of the glass tunnel. Note also that they
are sharp edged and tubular, suggesting that they are individual structural
features rather than drifting mounds of piled up sand.

To try and explain away such unique and obviously non-geologic objects as
the products of mere wind erosion is laughable. What these object appear
to be are the supports for some sort of underground tunnel or transportation
system.

To their marginal credit, scientists at MSSS have at least acknowledged the
(geologically) inexplicable nature of these features. According to
MSSS's Ken
Edgett:

"Seeing Mars up close through the narrow angle camera has been a humbling
experience. We often find surfaces for which there are no obvious analogs
on Earth, like certain ridges that look like dunes. Our terrestrial geologic
experience seems, at times, to fail us," Edgett said. "Perhaps it is because
water is the dominant force of erosion on Earth, even in the driest desert
regions. But on Mars that force of change may have been something else, like
wind. The ridges seen in places like the Valles Marineris floors are strange.
They aren't dunes because they occur too close together, their crests are
too sharp, their slopes too symmetrical. They often appear to be a specific
layer of material that has undergone erosion -- we just wish we knew what
processes are involved that cause this kind of erosion."

The reality of course is that wind had nothing to do with the formation of
these features. What Edgett and Malin seem to be dancing around is the obvious
-- they are artificial.

We can only guess what other wonders await us as we continue to scan this
new database. By all means, keep looking, and as always --

Romance to Reality:
moon & Mars expedition & settlement plans, 1950-present
Romance to Reality contains more than 100 annotation (summaries &
descriptions) of seminal, classic, and illustrative moon & Mars expedition
& settlement reports, articles, presentations, books, memoranda, and
other documents. The site expands at the rate of about 10 entries per month,
and will eventually contain as many as 700 entries. Plans are afoot to add
original illustrations and a search engine, as well as other new features.